Even press reports of slave trading in Libya
follow the same proscribed language. They will say that Gaddafi was an
autocrat and a dictator, but omit that the humanitarian disaster was
carried out by the United States, NATO, and Gulf monarchs. The
dismemberment of Libya is one of many crimes that are conveniently
shoved down the memory hole.

Now we see the supreme and awful irony. America’s first black
president is responsible for slavery taking place in a once prosperous
African country and his role is covered up by people who once would have
condemned his actions.

Black people defended Muammar Gaddafi if no one else did. American
presidents made a show of castigating Gaddafi, calling him crazed,
fanatical, dictatorial and mentally ill. Black Americans were unanimous
in their support whenever he was attacked, whether militarily or even
rhetorically. But that support ended when he fell under Obama’s cross
hairs. Barack Obama’s ascendancy to the presidency was a curse on black
America’s political heritage.

That curse is unlikely to be lifted anytime soon. There was never a
great willingness to point out his wrong doing, and now that the
despised Trump is president the selective amnesia grows worse.

The corporate media do not fulfill their most basic obligations. They
repeat lies if they are told by people they decide to protect. They
hide the truth if it is told by the people they decide to disappear from
discourse and from history. But that dissembling should not silence
people who put themselves in the anti-war camp. When they read or hear
about refugees and migrants dying or being sold as slaves they must
state loudly and clearly that Obama and Clinton are the villains in the
story.
She really said it all, didn't she?
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot
" for Wednesday:

Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Chaos and violence continue, The Mosul Slog
continues, Jane Arraf continues to deceive and so much more.

Not a good time for Kenneth Roth. He can't erase his past and he can't stop embarrassing himself in the present.

Now maybe people could turn their focus to aging queen Charlie Rose who
has supported every war in the world and runs with the dogs of war?

Meanwhile the war drags on.

AL ARABIYA reports:US Special Forces units reached Ain al-Assad Airbase, the western
Anbar province in Iraq, on Tuesday to help Iraqi forces recapture cities
still held by ISIS.

“A large number of US
Special Forces units reached the Ain al-Assad Airbase in Anbar’s
Al-Baghdadi district some 90 kilometers west of Ramadi,” the Turkish Anadolu Agency reported, quoting an Iraqi army brigadier-general.

When does this war end?

It doesn't appear to ever end.

It will hit year 15 next March.

So, for those planning to gift, crystal is the traditional 15th anniversary token.

How many more years is the Iraq War going to continue?

And has it -- and the Afghanistan War -- gone on so long that we now consider permanent war normal?

More than half of Iraqi families—around 20 million people—are at risk
of food insecurity and cannot withstand any further shocks such as
conflict or increases in basic food prices, warned a joint report by the
UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) and the Iraqi government.It follows nearly four decades of wars, sanctions, occupation and
civil war, instigated by Washington, that have devastated this once
prosperous country.It is American imperialism, and its European allies—who invaded the
country in 1991 and again in 2003—that are principally responsible for
the growing danger of a colossal humanitarian disaster now confronting
Iraq.Operations by US forces still range throughout the country. Their
drone missile strikes and bombings of residential areas at a rate of 200
to 300 a month have slaughtered hundreds, if not thousands, of civilian
men, women and children.[. . .]By the end of January—in a city once home to 1.8 million people—at
least 160,000 out of 400,000 people living in eastern Mosul had fled
their homes after the military campaign to take the eastern part of the
city began.The assault by Iraqi forces, under cover of air strikes by US-led
forces, led to a huge number of civilian casualties. They comprised
nearly half of all casualties, far higher than the 15-20 percent
expected in such a conflict. This was despite a promise by the Iraqi
security forces to adopt a plan prohibiting artillery strikes, requiring
civilians to remain in their homes, and providing humanitarian exit
corridors wherever necessary.The situation has hardly improved in the months since the recapture
of eastern Mosul. While booby-traps are being removed and some people
have returned to their homes, water, electricity and food are in short
supply. Schools remained closed for two months because of delays in
paying teachers.Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Iraq, told the website Middle East Eye,“
Worryingly, large numbers of people are actually leaving eastern Mosul.
People tell us that they are leaving because not enough food is being
distributed and because they are being harassed—some even feel
threatened.”In fact, the Iraqi authorities are targeting households whose family
members are thought to have supported ISIS. This is giving rise to fears
that Mosul will experience the same horrendous sectarian abuse and
corrupt governance that befell Fallujah and Ramadi after their
recapture. Mosul’s governor, Nofal Hammadi al-Sultan, remains in Erbil,
not even visiting the city until February, even though eastern Mosul was
recaptured in December.The bitter sectarian conflict that threatens to explode is directly
linked to Washington’s criminal policy of divide and rule pursued in the
years following the Iraq war. Support for reactionary ISIS only emerged
under conditions where the Sunni population was sidelined and suffered
sectarian violence at the hands of the Shia-dominated Baghdad
government.

That's Iraq. That's what the US government has brought about.

All the people killed, all the people wounded, all the dollars spent.

And that's the reality.

And, equally important, there is no safe passage out of Mosul.

The Iraqi government refused to provide one. And told people to stay at their homes. A message they repeated only weeks ago.

Those are facts.

When you don't want facts?

Turn to The Whore of Babylon herself, Jane Arraf.

The former CNN reporter pops up anywhere they can throw a few pennies at her -- or toss a Hershey bar into her tent.

More than 300,000 civilians are still trapped in Mosul. ISIS has kept
them there to prevent the U.S. and Iraq from launching airstrikes and
mortars against their fighters.
The Iraqi battle plan coordinated with the U.S. military has involved
surrounding the city and leaving no escape route for either ISIS
fighters or civilians.

Leaving no escape route for ISIS or civilians?

But it's ISIS that prevented them from leaving?

It's ISIS?

Oh, Jane, you will whore from your coffin at this rate.

It's day 183 of The Mosul Slog.

And 'activists' in the US are fretting over Donald Trump's tax returns.

Priorities -- they lack them.

People are dying because of the US government and whiners want to
pretend that their hatred of Donald Trump is accomplishing anything.